Kingdom Hearts Gaiden
by Shaun Garin
Summary: [KH2AUverse][InGame First Person POV] Each world has it's own story to tell through the eyes of one involved. Some however, need a little more explaining more than others.
1. Mulan

Kingdom Hearts Gaiden

Written by Shaun Garin

Kingdom Hearts is owned in it's entirety by SquareEnix and Disney.

* * *

01: Mulan

* * *

I suppose I should start from the beginning. You know, so that the scene is properly set. Imagine that you're the child of a noble family. Or as noble as a family that had a father who fought in the last previous great war against Nippon. Now imagine that your father, tired and old, also had an only daughter. Yeah, that's me; Fa Mulan. The greatest woman of China's history. Or at least I would be if I pulled this off and didn't get my head cut off for impersonating a guy.

My family was, to say the least, odd. Father was of what people would call a modern notion. In short, I didn't die almost right off the bat when mother and father barely brought me into this world. I was healthy, no doubt about that, but the family doctor, otherwise known as grandmamma told my mother that she was too weak to bring about another child into the world. My father took to me immediately, despite the age-old custom of drowning girls when they are born if there has not been a son raised in the family by now.

Don't LOOK at me like that, I know by your standards it's barbaric, but to us, it's normal. If I was born a guy, which I'm NOT mind you, it would have solved a lot of problems in the long run. Aw well, back to the story at hand.

It begun about, oh, several weeks ago, when Chi Fu, the Emperor's right hand man himself came to our village and delivered a missive to the people. The Huns had invaded China. One man from each family had to serve the army. Good old Yi Tsung, always out there. His father fought alongside my own, although his father was also quite old by the time that Chi Fu had come to deliver the missive of a draft.

Then, of course, and predictably my chest tightened when my own last name was called.

Father looked so proud, walking up to Chi Fu and taking the missive, stating that he would be honoured to defend China once more. Of course, me being myself, I just HAD to interfere.

After the spectacular fiasco of trying to persuade The Idiot In Charge and father looking at me crossly, I fled into the house where I buried myself in chores. With no son, I was raised up stronger than most girls, having to work in the fields. Although, if I thought about it now, I thought I was strong back then but nowadays, it's easy to swing a sword or channel fire through my blade like it was nothing. Certainly magic hadn't entered my life, being mostly grounded. The Ancestors of course were always looking out for us, but I hadn't really thought about things till now.

The rest of the evening was spent in silence. The village doctor, also known as The Quack from my grandmamma had also recommended three cups of tea in the morning and three at night. Father was into his second cup when I slammed my cup down in frustration.

"Why do you have to go and fight for China? Haven't you done enough for the country!" I demanded, ignoring my mother's scandalized exclamation of "Mulan!" but I pressed on. "There are other younger and stronger men out there!"

"I will fight for my honour and my country," replied my father neutrally.

"So you'll DIE for honour," I snapped angrily and his eyes bore into mine.

"I will DIE, doing what's RIGHT. I know my place, and it's time you know yours."

I couldn't take it. My cup spiralling out onto the table, I fled into the garden, despite the rain beginning to pour. It matched my mood, I had to admit. But, if I had just considered what my father said, I would have realized that in time, I would have learned what my place in the world was like.

* * *

Rain poured that night, and my tears mingled with the rain streaking down my face. I liked it out here, especially when it wasn't raining like no other, but today as I huddled under the stone statue of the Great Stone Dragon, the guardian of the Fa family, I couldn't help but feel terrible at the thought of my old father going out to possibly march into his death.

Now we have to back up for a second here. My father, previously in the day had also quite literally encouraged me to find my own path. He doesn't say things like normal people, preferring to take the Old Wise China Man route with explanations through Cherry Blossoms and other such things like that. At times, I thought he was just comforting me and really, I NEEDED the comfort at that point in time. I suppose I should rewind the tape and show you a scene from before, just before we head on. Gotta thank Sora for this anyhow. The TV and all. Changed my life, being able to torment friends and family with home movies. Evil? What is this evil you speak of? I'm not evil… Oh Shang…c'mere!

* * *

So here we are, standing in the middle of the scene. It's a perfect day, the sun is shining, the people are out in market, the pigs aren't making much of a smell, and here I am stampeding through every shortcut I can think of to get to the Market in time. Granted I probably upset a few farmers, a couple of chickens and gave a cow a heart attack when Khan jumped it, but it was in the way. This isn't India after all.

"I'm here!" I declared, jumping off my horse. Mamma merely picked a straw out of my hair and gave me The Look. The Look that read "You're LATE" in every language known to mankind. "But mamma I was just…" I begun to protest but she merely shook off my protests and then I was off. A whirlwind of make up, a cold bath (Mamma said it was warm previously but I think she deliberately had them draw cold water from the well to torment me), and a very constricting outfit. The white make up went on, the blush, the ladylike poise, and I'm certain that Grandmamma had put a CRICKET onto my sash! Rather smart cricket though. I'll name him Cri-kee.

Falling in line, also clumsily, I hid myself behind a bamboo umbrella as delicately as possible. Now I admit I'm not the delicate type. When I was a girl, I gave Tsung a black eye for calling me a wimp. Since then, I've been the outcast tomboy as it were. Sora said I was shy of being a hair between butch and ladylike. I slugged him for THAT comment.

"Fa Mulan," pronounced the heavyset matchmaker. I DISLIKED this woman with every fibre of my being. And I don't like people usually on sight but the woman, obese, grumpy and with make up so thick she couldn't pass as a china doll much less than a BUDDHA… ahem. In any case, I made my way into the house. And as I passed the gates, I was reminded of a saying that had strayed into father's books one day, from a land far, far away. I think it was named Hollow Bastion or some type of that. Sora sort of whistled nonchalantly in a manner that wasn't even misleading. Those jerks are hiding something from me and I intend to beat it out of them sometime. On the note of the saying, I think it translated to "Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here". It seemed reasonable enough to say I felt like walking into the jaws of a very big dragon.

The ceremony was, of course a disaster. I couldn't have imagined a more suitable event to take place, even with my dislike of the woman. Tea on the lap, the cricket jumping around in her outfit, ashes on her backside, ashes LIGHTING her backside, being splashed by a pot of hot tea… yeah.

In other words, I rushed home feeling like I had betrayed seventeen generations of Ancestors just by EXISTING. Then father happened to cheer me up, just before the day went COMPLETELY to pot.

* * *

So here I am, sneaking into the room where father keeps his armour. On goes a full tunic and pants, soft sandals and… hmm… I think Sora called them socks or something like that. Aw well. On goes the armour… WHOOF, this stuff is HEAVY… sword… must remember to tie sword properly so it won't fall out of sheath, and then make certain I won't spook Khan by leaving.

In retrospect, I didn't plan this out AT ALL. Really.

I travelled for the better part of the night and found out that heavy soaking wet armour that likes to catch water in every single place of said outfit gets HEAVY. I also found out that I didn't bring a single coin with me. Or food. Or water. Or even a map, save for my father's missive. That was the only thing leading me on and I spent the better part of three weeks wandering aimlessly, asking every farmer, villager and person I can think of to find the damn Wu Tshung Camp. Hey, I found a use for the word Sora taught me! Nice.

After bartering some of my useless items I had brought with me, mostly female stuff and all, I was able to acquire some hard tack, water and other such necessary items to make it to said camp. Then it was another week of slogging through muddy tracks, following the occasional man in armour and then sleeping restlessly under the stars.

What, you thought I made it there overnight? Yeah RIGHT. For one, the Wu Tshung Camp is situated in a large plain that is miles from home. I was lucky to find it, being that I went the wrong way for almost a week. I kept my head down when some of my neighbours and neighbours sons rode past. No sense letting them know that I was there. That would be a hard one to explain; little Mulan sitting in the middle of a man-only army with the penalty of death and eternal shame to the Fa family riding on a horse in full armour. Yeah, I'm prepared. About as prepared as facing down a horde of Huns. I wonder how I'm going to avoid even talking to any of them?

So here I was, standing in a clearing, practicing my manly drawl and trying to draw my sword and failing miserably at it. Did I mention that my HORSE is laughing at me? Yeah, it is. After bouncing a slipper off it's head and scolding it, I dropped to a rock, palmed my face and exclaimed, "I need a MIRACLE to pull this off."

"DID I HEAR SOMEONE ASK FOR A MIRACLE! LEMME HEAR YOU SAY AAAAAAH!"

"YEAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

"THAT'S CLOSE ENOUGH!"

Aaah, enter Mushu, the eternally chipper, self absorbed piece of work I called a Guardian. Granted he's my friend for life and eternal slave or something of the sort, but that first impression? Not a good thing. At least the fear was broken as three people, a boy dressed in odd clothes, a DUCK and a DOG, pounced the thing and begun a scuffle that would have lasted if it weren't for the dog breaking up the fight.

The boy, duck and dog knew the dragon who introduced himself as Mushu. Khan wasn't too impressed with his big dramatic fiery appearance and made it known by trampling him like a little bug. If I wasn't too surprised at this turn of events, read; shell-shocked, I would have said something wittier than "My Ancestors sent a little LIZARD to help me?"

"Hey, hey, dragon Dra-Gon. Not Lizard. I don't do that tongue thing." Mushu stuck his tongue out at me and then introduced me to the three, naming them Sora, Donald and Goofy. Apparently he and them went way back for some reason or another, and me, being my gullible self followed it.

I figured things would get better by the time we went to the camp. Boy was I wrong.

* * *

Rule Number One for impersonating a man : NEVER follow Mushu's advice.

Sora kept giving me a funny look as I "strutted" into the camp like a big important guy, bow legged with chest out. I suppose it was in part my fault for listening to Mushu about that, but he was destined to get me into BIGGER trouble soon.

Men are gross, mind you. Hygiene isn't a big part of them and Oh Ancestors, HIDE!

Ducking behind a tent, I neatly avoided getting seen by some of my neighbours. This was going to be DIFFICULT.

Trying to act like nothing was going on, and coincidentally drawing even MORE attention to myself, I meandered out of hiding and Sora gave me a grin. "Trying to be inconspicuous, huh?"

I wished I could smite him with my mind. Instead, utilized plan B and followed Mushu's advice. BAD MOVE.

"Oh Yao, you made a friend," said the giant known as Chien Po.

That punch was surprisingly strong. Must have gotten stronger lugging this armour around. The slap on the butt though, that was a mistake as Yao grabbed my armour and dragged me close. "Whoa ho, ho there, I'm gonna hit you so hard, your ANCESTORS'LL feel dizzy."

I had no intention of getting into a fight so I subsequently ignored Mushu. Chien Po, bless his soul decided to drag Yao away and put him through some nice little calming mantra. Then, after calming himself with the metaphorical count to ten move, he called me a Chicken Wuss.

Mushu, obviously took offence to this. So did Donald and Sora. I think the first words were "CHICKEN WUSS! SAY THAT AGAIN, YOU LIMP NOODLE!"

OUCH. In short order, the camp was in ruins and I think the newcomers were also buried under a pile of men, or otherwise pounding the rest of them into stupors. With any luck, I can just sneak away real quiet-like…

"HE STARTED IT!"

DAMN!

Mushu was no help whatsoever, running me through a gamut of names before we settled on Ping. Ping. Huh. Fa Ping. Sounds like I was part of some type of musical or something. Shang gave me this look while Chi Fu uttered the words that would seal my doom. "I can see why… the boy's an absolute LUNATIC."

Joy, enter Fa Ping, the idiot child of the family complete with a string of spit hanging from the edge of his mouth. Oh great Ancestors, please don't let anyone call me on this!

I snuck a look at the rest of the people who were from my hometown. I think they were laughing too hard to even say something. Jerks, keeping this under a lid for so long… must develop amazing mental killing powers NOW. I think Sora said a guy named Sephiroth had them. Must find this man and make him teach me for the next time I'm forced into combat.

* * *

The evening and the subsequent night sucked terribly.

Shang supervised the whole thing as we picked up every single grain of rice from the spilt pot. How the rice grains travelled across the entire camp, it was beyond me. Donald was muttering something about a spell that would draw all of them to him, but I ignored it in favour of picking up food. Goofy lent the use of his shield, a weapon that surprised me as he had startling offence with it. A shield was really known for bludgeoning things or defending your life.

Morning couldn't come fast enough. It really couldn't and yet I wanted it to reset itself a few more times. Mushu was my early morning wake up call using Cri-kee as a alarm clock. Of course, Goofy was there too with a hearty "G'mornin!"

The rest of the camp was settled into a ragged line by the time I dressed and got over to the training camp. Sora looked FAR too eager for this training to begin and Donald wore a face that suggested he wasn't too happy with the delays. Tough. Three months of training is also part of the job description.

Shang comes out, straightens the line and summarily humiliates Yao. My day was looking up, till he forced ALL of us to get up to the top. To my credit, I didn't figure out the whole trick to the weights till the night I was going to be kicked out, but that's another story to itself. There's a few events I wanted to follow first before getting into the meat of the journey. The long, terrible, aching journey.

Sora didn't even figure things out. Shang put Donald on latrine duty for using magic to fly. Goofy tried to tell us how the trick worked out since he too trained people like that being Captain of the Guard but we summarily ignored him or often was caught up in a situation.

Three months later after subsequently learning HOW to climb the dratted pole and earning the respect of the men, along after a disastrous bath and seeing many men naked; something I didn't ever want to see with the camp's personal hygiene, I tried to cheer up Shang after Chi Fu gave him a dressing down. The Idiot In Charge struck again and me, being my Ping-self, offered to hold him down for a punching bag. For a moment, I thought Shang had actually considered it, his expression turning upwards for a brief moment before I added "I think you'd be a great Captain," before he left. And then the patrol of People Who Have Nothing To Do decided to waltz in and start teasing me mercilessly.

* * *

Have I ever told you how much I hate marching? That, and I just happened to be babysitting Sora who was singing some inane song about bottles of ether falling down. If he was a Hun saboteur, he was definitely weakening our morale. Ling had suggested stuffing our ears with parsley or rice to block out the sound. Oh dear Buddha, GOOFY joined in. The world hates us.

At times, during the camping we also traded songs and stories. Sora was a wellspring of stories, but at times I noticed he deliberately left out things. I resolved to drag the reason out of him later on mind you, but our feet ached far too much for us to say anything.

It was a week and a half to the Tshung Zhao Pass and the weather grew steadily colder. Donald looked miserable, being a duck. Feathers made for a good insulator but webbed bare feet did not. Sora must had been cold too, since his pants didn't go to his ankles while Goofy bore with it like the soldier he was. I lent him my socks of course, and then we spent the rest of the trip in misery because both our feet were freezing.

It was just when the boys were about to bury us in snow when we crested the hill. The mountain village where Shang's father was stationed with his army was in ruins. Beyond it lay a literal open morgue.

They say that the stench of death is overwhelming. I couldn't agree more as I restrained the urge to become sick behind the snow banks. Some of the men did and I knew that Sora hit the ground in abject shock. Poor kid, having to see something like that.

Shang found his father and we held a burial for him. He took his father's sword and then planted his own into the ground as a sign of respect. I could barely say anything, too cold and numb from the shock of seeing someone dead in front of me.

And then, two days later upon the mountain pass, Mushu in his infinite wisdom decided to light a fire in the CANNON CART.

Huns EVERYWHERE. I doubt we could have gone two feet without running into them if they were close at hand. The enemy of all who live, Shan Yu the Hun leader stood at the top of the ridge, gloating as a group of men, almost a thousand strong stood on the ridges. And that wasn't all. A group of floating creatures were accompanying each one, making it two thousand heads strong.

Sora knew what they were, spitting out a word. "Heartless," he said. I didn't think about it for the moment as cannons were blazing and spilling snow everywhere. Our last cannon silenced the archers but Yao was ordered to aim for Shan Yu.

Then, I noticed something. A huge snow-covered mountain far above the pass.

I suppose I earned a reckless streak somewhere after being a "guy" for so long, but this one took the cake. The weapon discharged with Mushu atop it and Shan Yu skidded to a halt in front of me as it did so. The cannon exploded and on came the snow-covered death. His face twisted into a snarl and he and the creatures, whom Sora and company were dealing with in efficient strokes of his curious sword, were buried under a ton of snow.

One quick save of Shang's life later and I was on cloud nine. I was a hero, a great warrior… and then I was bleeding. Shan Yu cut me up good and lo and behold, they ignored Donald's attempts at trying to cure me.

* * *

I hate snow with every fibre of my being.

It matched the miserable countenance that I retained that night as I stared into Cri-kee's attempts at making a fire. Khan snorted, Sora, Donald and Goofy looked miserable as well. Sora offered to take some of the blame as well, but I was too cold to even think about things like that.

In a fit of irrational rage, I also pitched father's armour over the mountain. In retrospect, it did count as clothing and I was FREEZING. What was left of the armour was his helmet and it didn't make a very good cap. At least I hadn't pitched the sword; I'd probably need it in case I got accosted by bandits on the way home. Mushu then dropped the bombshell. "I ain't no Guardian. Your Ancestors don't even LIKE me."

Then, Sora, looking as miserable as I felt, added, "We're sorry too."

"For what?" I asked, confused.

"For not helping you when you were dragged off to the doctor. And for a lot of things we could have helped with." Sora raised the weapon of his into the light and he snorted before putting it away. It was the second time I saw him use it, once during training when he had abruptly left all of a sudden. "And for not telling you the truth of why we're here."

Donald protested loudly. Goofy on the other hand figured that Sora had a reason for it. They had never stayed on a world for such a long time, and they felt like they owed me an explanation of why they were here and what misfortune could follow them. Other worlds, other people, other hearts. It was surprising that there were other things outside our own sleepy country, and yet, it was amazing. I wanted to see them badly and then, before I could broach the subject, Shan Yu just happened to pick that time to get his butt out of the snow. Harder to kill than a COCKROACH. More of his men dragged themselves out of the snow and those creatures just simply appeared, as if they hadn't even been touched by the avalanche of frosty death. Shan Yu's men were vastly whittled down to a mere thirteen, but something in my gut told me that these men were the toughest in his entire army to survive an avalanche.

* * *

You know, it was worth it, seeing the boys in, what was it Sora called it? Drag? He shouldn't be laughing either since he had to dress up as a girl to get in as well.

Shang's an excellent fighter, there's no doubt about it. Sora as well and he, Donald and Goofy took on those flying creatures while the rest of the boys mopped up Shan's men. One quick deployment of Mushu-based weaponry and Shan was living the rest of his days six feet under. I dunno about you, but gunpowder is quite the interesting weapon. Donald muttered something about adapting a spell to do something similar.

So in all, the day was saved, the Emperor BOWED to us which threw me off so much, and we left for home. I wanted to bring Sora, Donald and Goofy home with me to meet my father, and Shang too but he couldn't get away I guess.

Although mind you, Shang showed up a month later, a mere few minutes after I arrived home. Things compounded when Sora, Donald and Goofy returned. Grandma invited China, as it were and we had a big celebration. I think the Ancestors were having one too, considering Mushu was plastered the last time I saw him.

That night I made good to get Sora to promise me that he'd show me a world. He decided on a fairly safe one, in his respect of safe, and introduced me to a few odd people.

Then again, when you live under the sea, it would be considered odd, even without the standard of legs.


	2. Belle

Kingdom Hearts Gaiden

Written by Shaun Garin

Kingdom Hearts is owned and copyright SquareEnix and Disney.

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02: Belle

* * *

There's a natural order to things. There's the brave heroine, the cursed prince in a faraway land and then, of course there is the inevitable tragedy that draws both together. For me however, it was more of a stroke of luck that brought me to the gates of the castle where Beast lived. My father left that morning, full of hopes and dreams with his new automatic wood chopping machine with every intent on showing it off for the fair. My father made it as an inventor, as attributed to the amount of knick-knacks that had been produced from our little community. The town where I lived in regularly lived off the land with some income coming out of various places. It was not poor, but rather standard for a town in the south of France. And at the very least, men like Gaston shared their hunts with everyone.

Gaston, the villian of this tragedy. I knew him for a long time; what girl didn't? Something of a local hero, he was the top game hunter. Ducks, deer, moose and even the occasional bear. He brought them all down and then, he shared it with the people. I could remember the year when a blight had scoured the land and brought ruin to all of our crops. Gaston set out with his best friend and was gone for three days. When he returned, he carried enough fur and food to last us through the winter. The load was so heavy, he was almost bent over dragging the pile home. Everything was salted and prepared for preservation.

Gaston, though had his moments. I don't know when he changed from such a sweet man, but in time, he grew arrogant in his skills and his reputation. People begun to distrust him at times but there was no one who was brave enough to speak out against him. H grew arrogant in his skill as a top hunter. The triplets in the town, only other girls of similar marrying age as I was threw themselves at him. In a small town in the south of France, it was to be expected.

My day changed that afternoon when three people wandered into the town, looking around like they hadn't seen anything like this. An odd group to be certain; a duck and a dog wandering about standing on their hind legs. Something I thought could only happen in storybooks. The boy with them looked different, like stories of people from the orient with his exotic features. He was dressed as oddly as they were, clad in black, gold, silver and his hair was messy and brown. His pants were baggy, and went only to his shins as it left a good amount of bare leg exposed. The boy and the duck seemed to be in deep conversation while the dog cast a glance around his enviroment.

"... maybe we should have landed somewhere closer to the castle," remarked the boy to the duck and the duck looked perturbed.

"That's what I tried to say, but you wanted to look around first," snorted the duck in a voice that sounded almost like a quacking noise. I could easily imagine his voice being used in a fit of anger.

"Gwarsh, Donald, Sora just wanted to look around. It's not like we're in a hurry, right?" offered the dog and the duck, presumably the one named Donald scowled at the dog.

Then, something seemed to CLICK and without realizing it myself, I grabbed the duck in a fierce hug. "Donald! It's so good to see you!"

"Wak! Put me down, put me DOWN!" proteted Donald and both Sora and Goofy jumped aside in surprise.

"Belle!" exclaimed Sora, surprised. "I didn't know this was your hometown!"

"Well," I said, letting Donald down and the magician muttered something about a thing called a chiropractor, "I was wondering that myself. How is it that I didn' recognise you all before?"

"Gwarsh, maybe it's because we woke up recently," said Goofy and Sora frowned in thought.

"I dunno. We were awake nearly three months ago. Why would Belle notice us now?"

Then, a sick realization hit me and I gasped, "Beast! We have to get back to the castle; he must be worried sick!"

As luck would have it, Phillipe came charging into town and after unlatching the wagon and toting it to the side of the house, the four of us took off into the forest.

* * *

Heartless. I hate Heartless.

Sora, in his cute gallant manner told me to get back as he produced the glimmering weapon, the bane of everything darkness. The keyblade cut through the ranks, and I absently noted that it was a reddish weapon this time, glowing with inner fire. Weilded like a sword, Sora slashed through the ranks and Goofy and Donald made short work of the mob of Shadows that threatened to bar our path. Somewhere in there however, I had gotten knocked off Phillipe and I grabbed the first thing that was in his pack; a one bladed hatchet and took a swing.

It cut through the darkness easily and between the four of us they were quickly culled. "Man," said Sora, shaking his head. "I've never seen so many Heartless in one place."

"What about the Tsung Zhao Pass?" asked Goofy and Sora ammended the statement with "second most."

For a skilled fighter, Heartless usually didn't pose much of a problem. Goofy and Donald had no enchantments on their weapons save for some mana and strength agumenting spells on them. A simple and somewhat blunt hatchet was more of a surprise but Donald chalked it up to my pure heart feeding power into anything resembling a weapon. He figured that I could have even picked up a stick and fended them off with that, possibly killing a few. I suppose it wasn't much of a stretch, being that I was one of the seven abducted to open the door to Kingdom Hearts.

The rest of the trip was spent in a more lesurely trot to Beast's castle since Phillipe needed to conserve his energy in case we had to make a break for it. Phillipe knew where father was and even though I had the route memorized, we made good time through the bramble. Once or twice, some wolves tried to bother us but Sora scared them off with bursts of flame from the end of his keyblade. Soon enough we got to the gates. Pushing the heavy iron-wrought gates open, we trotted onto the stone bridge that seperated the castle from the rest of the world. The courtyard followed and... were those statues ATTACKING us?

Sora's keyblade sliced into the rock, Goofy's thrown shield gouged large rips into the statues and Donald's magic froze them before they shattered into bits. I did my part by performing a spectacular overhanded throw with my blunt hatchet that took the head off a gargoyle. After which Phillipe and I charged about. There was something amusing about seeing a stone gargoyle statue goggle at you comically as you beat it out of existence with your shoe.

Sora grinned at me and said, "Not bad, Belle. We gotta introduce you to Mulan sometime."

Pondering over that statement and wondering if Mulan was a friend of theirs from another world, we made our way into the castle where, surprise, surprise, there were a boat-load of Heartless waiting for us. I doubt we could have moved through the castle. I hoped the servants were doing all right since their current forms did not lend itself to fighting.

Spells flew, the keyblade glinted, Goofy charged headlong into the pack and I smote several with my shoe and a book I had neglected to return to the bookstore owner. The fighting abruptly ended however as Beast charged into the pack from a spectacular jump from the upper levels. The appearance of Beast however galavanted fresh reserves. It was like an entire castle full of Heartless were here to take down the furious ball of angry teeth and claws that was Beast. That was when Sora, not to be outdone in his cute competitive manner, shouted "LIGHT!"

The world seemed to crackle with thunderous explosive energy and then Sora was swinging not one but two keyblades. The second was a blue keyblade embossed with a star for teeth and he was a whirlwind, cutting down the horde to a more sizable amount. I had to admit, it was very impressive on how he had apparently learned some new tricks since the last time I saw him, which amounted to almost two years and three months ago.

Panting slightly, Sora straightened up as his red outfit faded back to the gold and black I was slowly getting accustomed to. I was also getting accustomed to his deeper voice but kids grow like all of us. "Beast, great timing!" he cheered.

Beast, apparently was in no mood to talk as he shoved past the pair, throwing Donald into the wall, and slammed the doors of the parlor open. He re-emerged holding the enchanted rose. Wait a moment...

Storming past us, Beast deemed to say nothing and he bounded up to the west wing entrance without a word. "That was odd, even for Beast," mused Goofy. "D'ya think something happened to him?"

The boys were quickly pressed into a short conversation between them. I could hear snatches about a group called Organization XIII and the possibility of something happened to Beast. "Y'know," finished Goofy, "We need to get the Beast ta talk. Something's on his mind."

"I'm worried," I added. "I'll go with you."

"But it could be dangerous," protested Sora. "The castle must be swarming with Heartless."

"I don't care," I said, hands on my hips. "Beast needs me. And since I don't see the servants anywhere, you need all the help you can get."

Sora deflated like a popped soap bubble and Donald rose some protests. In the end we made a compromise. I would go with Goofy to find out where the servants were after liberating a sword from the suits of armor that graciously gave me one. The blade felt heavy and I was certain I wouldn't do any good with it, but Goofy, patient as he was, helped me out with using it without hurting myself.

Sora and Donald would go and find out what happened to Beast and, Donald added morbidly, "Hope he doesn't tear our throats out in the process of Q and A."

* * *

The hallways, were predictably infested with Heartless. Goofy and I cut down several, and he protected me when I paused to regain my breath. He was a dear, living up to the status of Captain of the Guard. Never once did he make me feel inadequate by cutting down the Heartless without a thought, but rather let me gain better proficiency with the blade that slowly became an extention of myself. I suppose in respect, it was my heart growing stronger and soon, I was swinging the blade often with only a pause to toss Goofy or myself a potion that had been dropped by the otherworldly invaders.

"Wardrobe!" I cried as we turned the corner. Wardrobe, my closest friend since I had first arrived was being overwhelmed by the inky darkness. Fierce protectiveness arose in me and there was a shattering sound in my mind, like something had been broken. "PROTECT!" I cried and there was a burst of magic erupting from the tip of my sword. Goofy had clasped his hand over mine and the power intensified two fold. The pair of us found ourselves standing on the other end of the group and like a pile of dominos, they exploded into black smoke as if a massive hand just tore through the ranks.

"Belle!" exclaimed Wardrobe, taking in my disheveled appearance. "Oh you poor thing, you're all dirty and you have cuts and bumps... what has the Master thought, letting you roam about in this condition?"

Fending off Wardrobe's well deserved but ill-timed attempt at mothering me, I cut in with "I'm fine, Wardrobe. Really. Goofy and I are just fine."

"Well I suppose there's nothing for it," said Wardrobe, sniffing derisively. "Tell me dear, what brings you back to the castle? The servants were worried when you vanished, not to mention the Master. And bringing along a surprise guest a well?"

"I don't even remember leaving," I murmured to myself. Before Wardrobe could ask what I meant by that, Goofy interjected smoothly. Obviously he was used to deflecting statements of the sort.

"We were wonderin' where all of Beast's servants were," said Goofy. "Belle says that there are a lot of people here but we haven't seen anyone."

"Oh dear," sighed Wardrobe. "it was when a man dressed in black came to the castle during Belle's absence. He started talking with the Master and since then, he hasn't been the same. I fear the worst, so in a moment of sanity, I convinced the Master to open the Undercroft, the dungeons deep below the castle. All of the castle servants are hiding there in order to keep everyone safe. I volunteered to act as a guard for the door. But those dratted black things keep attacking me. I could barely fend them off until you two showed up."

Wardrobe stepped aside and said, "Be careful dears. There may be something lurking down there. I haven't heard a peep from them and Cogsworth was the most vocal about being thrown down there."

Imagining Cogsworth being bodily carried down into the Undercroft brought a giggle to my lips as we stepped through.

* * *

I'm certain there was a word for it, but I couldn't think of it. I was too tired.

Being a Princess of Heart had merit apparently as the Gatekeeper flinched from my heart and often, it escaped the stone body it possessed. Goofy was all over the Gatekeeper and between the pair of us, we defeated it. As the stone doors dissolved to reveal normal old oaken ones, Goofy coughed a couple of times and then righted himself. "Are you okay, Belle?"

"I'll be fine, just a bruise," I replied, fingering the painful bruise on my side. "Come on, let's hurry."

Rescuing the servants was easier than we thought. The door yielded to a push and then we were mobbed by half a dozen happy household items. In the midst of the din and Goofy unlocking more of the cells to free up the rest of the staff, nearly three hundred in all, Cogsworth pushed to the front of the mob and raised a concern. "What's happening to the Master?" he asked.

An answering angry bellow could be heard from far above, accompanied by a terrible crash that shook the castle. "Oh what now?" grumbled Cogsworth as we lead the pack out of the dungeons.

We found Sora wrestling with the enormous strength of Beast, his face dripping with sweat. A cut over his eye trickled blood into his eye and he was blinking rapidly to keep his vision from hazing over. Donald looked dazed as he lay on the ground and muttered something about "no more crashes, Launchpad". "Sora!" cried Goofy and the Captain was rushing into battle.

Goofy blocked a strike the knocked the pair into the stairs. The steps were stone and I winced as they got back up. Goofy healed Donald of his daze and the three laid into Beast. Beast was furious, but there was a mechanical movement to his actions. Like he was a puppet of some form or another.

"Master! Control yourself!" cried Cogsworth and he turned to Lumiere. "We must do something!"

"I do not know what, mon ami," said Lumiere.

"Oh, we need a plan of some type. Some way of bringing him to his senses," fretted Cogsworth.

It was then I got an insane plan. And they call SORA reckless. Snatching up Cogsworth and twisting his key several times, much to his protests, I darted right between the fight and held up Cogsworth. The major domo's alarm rang and Beast cried out, holding his head and stumbling backwards from the noise. Snapped out of the trance that held him in it's thrall, a tangible darkness rose about him as he fought for control.

"SORA!" cried Goofy and Sora aimed his Keyblade. The mystical weapon shone and there was a clicking sound as the darkness rose into the air. It snarled angrily and then vanished into the ballroom. Crisis averted. For now at least.

"That man," said Beast, after he had awkwardly apologized to me for mistreating me. Poor thing had aparently forgotten that time had reset, and I just arrived. "Xaldin! He's the one who was doing this! He used my anger to control me, made me nothing but RAGE!"

"I'll bet that's what they're doing," mused Goofy. I hate to admit it, but Goofy is the smartest out of the group when it came to common sense. Sora and Donald were on the shy of reckless. "They wanted to turn you into a Heartless. And when that happened, they'd have control of your Nobody too!"

Before they could continue, there was a hideous crashing noise from the ballroom. "The darkness that was possessing Beast!" excalimed Sora, realizing they had not banished it.

Beast's darkness had manifested itself into a giant floating head. Sharp teeth and wrapped in chains, the darkness floated, smashing the huge pillars about the ballroom. "We gotta stop it before it brings the whole castle down!"

"Destroy my castle? I don't THINK SO!" Letting out a furious roar, Beast tackled it and the fight was on. The Darkness was tricky, smashing through pillars, changing the nature of the ballroom into a battleground and even using the chandelier as a weapon. Even after it changed into a dangerous looking parody of the Beast, it fought similarily with a few new tricks here and there.

Beast wound up protecting me far too much during that battle, and yet I welcomed it. But it certainly surprised him when I held my own and soon, the creature was vanishing, a captive heart floating up into the skies before vanishing. "Belle," he said awkwardly. "I... owe you an apology."

"It's all right," I replied, laying a hand on his cheek. "But you know, you could try to at least make the effort to warn us when you're going to do something like this."

Beast looked chargined. And then, a thought came to me. "Wait... where's my father?"

* * *

We found father in what was soon to be my suite. Fortunately Beast had retained some of his memory and instead of throwing him into a high tower for tresspassing, my father, Maurice had been put up in a room. Locked away and kept safe by a pair of loyal suits of armour but he was relieved to see me. Papa tried to get me to come away with him but I knew my place was there. Papa looked worried but Sora, Donald and Goofy did their part in helping convince my father my place was here.

We never really got to see that elusive Xaldin and Sora, Donald and Goofy left soon after as his Keyblade shone. Time went on and soon after winter had passed, things stirred up again.

Beast never took my learning fencing well, proclaiming it was his duty to protect me but I just smiled and shook my head. As a Princess of Heart, I was obviously a target. And if by the stories Sora told me while heading to the castle about a girl who dressed as a man to help protect her family's honour held water, it was certain that I could learn too. The old knighthood looked happy, as happy as featureless suits of armour could as they taught me every trick they could think of, and some moves that were definitely not used in a proper duel.

Spring rolled around and then, my father came rushing to the castle in a hurry. Letting himself in as the clouds were gathering, he hollered for me repeatedly till I appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Papa, what is it?" I asked.

"This... man in black. He appeared one day and started rallying the townsfolk against the prince," he puffed and Beast and I shared concerned glances. "There is a group of men being led by him. You must flee!"

"NO," growled Beast. "This is MY castle, and I will decide who is welcome here."

"Beast, we must prepare the castle for war," I said, and he threw me an angry look. "Remember? The man in black, Xaldin was his name was the one who used you like a puppet! No doubt he was able to fester the darkness in the hearts of the townsfolk!"

Beast deflated and he nodded. "Old man," he growled, and papa looked up at him. "Who leads the townsfolk?"

"The man in black rallied them under Gaston," said papa. "He... did something to him. He's angry. And dangerous. Extremely dangerous now. I don't think Gaston is the same anymore."

"He must have drawn out the darkness in his heart," I mused. "We must get a hold of Sora, Donald and Goofy!"

"We cannot, they left no method of contact," said Beast, shaking his head. "I will assemble the guard. Let us see who has the stronger gates."

* * *

Beast was an excellent strategic planner, when he was not clouded by irrational thought. Deploying his servants and guard to key areas of the castle foyer, the most likely area of entry, he ordered the guard to prepare a little welcome for the villagers.

If the line was breached, the remainder of the forces were in the ballroom where my father, Beast and I stood. Beast had prepared for the battle, muttering to himself "Control, control" as he paced back and forth. My father looked worried as he was to the back line with the children, preparing to take shelter as soon as posible. The old captain of Beast's guard, Sir Ducharme had given me his elegant rapier. He said that something was amiss, and I was inclined to believe him.

A shout went up from the sentry and soon, a rabble of men stormed into view, chanting words that spoke of fear and misguided anger. At the head marched Gaston with the black robed Xaldin next to him. The man pushed his hood back and I knew instinctively that he held no feelings. He was EMPTY.

The makeshift battering ram made of a felled tree smashed against the doors. The doors, old and rusted, heaved inwards and Beast laid a hand on my shoulder. "You can flee with your father," he said softly.

"No, this is my home too," I replied.

The men poured into the foyer and the muttering grew soft in confusion. Taking advantage of the inanimate objects that his staff resembled, they had piled into the corners and all about, like it was a storage room rather than a castle. "A little more," muttered Cogsworth, our eyes and ears at the doors leading to the majestic ballroom. "A little more..."

Le Fou picked up Luminare and the candlebra exclaimed, "NOW!"

It was chaos, no doubt about it. The men were scattered, the anger holding them as puppets dissolving like threads. Xaldin looked furious at the interferance and he tightened his grasp on Gaston. Gaston marched towards the Ballroom and with a mighty shove, pushed the doors open. "BELLE!" he proclaimed.

"Gaston," I replied, my voice cooler than it should have been.

"So this is the Beast," said Gaston, sizing him up like he was a prey. Gaston looked very much the hunter, his shoulders hunched a little, his arms tensed and he laughed. "What a magnificent specimin! Truly a remarkable prey for the master hunter to mount on his wall."

Beast growled and I laid a hand on his arm to calm him. Beast relented and growled, "You are not welcome here. Leave. Now."

"Oh, but we came such a long way to see you both," said the voice that belonged to Xaldin. The evil looking man appeared in a ball of darkness and he held under his arm, the enchanted rose. Beast tightened in shock and he smirked. "That's right. I'm here to take all that you hold dear. The rose... and the girl."

"Not if we can help it!" Xaldin and Gaston whirled to stare at Sora, Donald and Goofy who ran in. They bore new sparkling weapons and Xaldin snarled at the man. Pulling out huge lances, six in all, magic blocked off any and all access to the room. My father was trapped on the other end, and I was grateful for he and the children would not be harmed.

The time for talk was over. Beast, with an obvious axe to grind, took on Xaldin who took to the air, his weapons spinning about him freely. Sora and Donald joined the fray and I turned to Gaston whose eyes were blank and filled with dark light. "Gaston, stop!" I cried but he aimed and fired a bullet.

Quicker than I could react, Goofy was in front of me, catching the bullet on his fancy new shield. "You won't hurt her," he said, his voice dead serious. "Because she's my friend and she's yours too!"

"Young miss," called out Cogsworth and then I realized what he meant. "Goofy, let's get in close," I said and with Cogsworth riding my shoulder, we launched ourselves into battle.

* * *

"Feeling any better?" I asked of Gaston and he chuckled before wincing.

Touching the painful wound on his side, he uttered, "I've been better."

"That's good to hear. Those who were injured also were treated tonight and most of the villagers left to reassure their families they're all right." at his expression, I added, "Beast, well, Adam is fine."

"I was helpless," said Gaston sourly. "That man, Xaldin awoke all of the darkness in my heart. All of my petty thoughts, my anger, and my ego. Everything. I was his puppet, dancing on the strings of his tune."

"It's not your fault," said Sora. He had stayed up late to keep an eye on Gaston and was still awake when I came in to look after him. "Organization XIII won't stop at nothing to achieve their goal; to fully exist. To do this, they're using me."

"And you still go about your mission?" asked Gaston. At Sora's nod, he snorted and shook his head. "I could never, not after what I could do. I felt so powerful, immersed in uncaring darkness. And by that same reason, I felt empty."

"You know, you and Adam are alike," I said thoughtfully. Gaston looked horrified at being the same as the hot-tempered prince and I giggled. "You both take things FAR too hard."

Sora laughed and I poked the boy on the nose. "And YOU too."

Leaving the pair to sputter protests, I left the room.

"The castle never looked better," said Adam, gazing over the beautiful landscape. When the spell of the enchantress had lifted, so did the murk and gloom that surrounded the castle. He was barefoot, and Adam noticed my gaze. He chuckled and said, "I can't stand shoes. Not after being barefoot for so long."

"You'll catch cold," I pointed out and he smiled.

"Ill worry about that when it comes," he replied and reached up. Unclasping the cape, he let the wind whip about his form and he smiled. "I'm still getting used to not having a protective pelt."

"Belle?" asked Goofy and I turned. "Donald and Sora and I are headed out. I wish we could stay, but Sora just got a feeling Jack Skellington needs us."

"All right," I replied. "Wait for us; we'll see you all off."

The sun crested over the mountains that morning.


	3. Elizabeth

Kingdom Hearts Gaiden

Written by Shaun Garin

Kingdom Hearts in all forms is owned by SquareEnix and Disney.

* * *

03: Elizabeth

* * *

I'm going to kill them. I'm going to kill them dead. And then I'll make Jack pick up a coin and start knifing him until he's full of holes.

I suppose I'm over-reacting but who wouldn't be? Jack Sparrow just managed to get us MAROONED on the same spit of land he called home for three days. "That's the second time I had to watch that man sail away with me ship," he said in a dissapointed tone. And then, he had the audacity to shake off my angry statements, reveal that he hitched a ride with a group of Rum-runners, open a hidden cache of rum and then say "Welcome to the Caribbean," while pushing a bottle into my arms. He pushed one on Sora and the boy had no idea what RUM was. Honestly, it was like I was living in the dark ages.

How could something so unbelievably insane happen within the last four days? It was like fate decided to drive all of us together and then cast us off into the briny depths, and oh lord, I'm talking like a pirate now. Mercy.

I guess this sorrid tale could be told with a typical beginning. I was only seven, floating towards land on a navy ship bound for the Jamacian shores where Port Royal was awaiting our arrival. It had been a long three months on the crossing, and I spent my time near the front of the ship, staring into the water and singing softly old pirate songs. It was during one of those times after Joshamine Gibbs tried to keep me from singing with warnings about pirates, we happened upon a merchant ship that was literally in flames. A burning husk was the only thing I could think of to describe it properly after the men hauled the only survivor out of the water; a boy that was barely older than I was.

He introduced himself as Will Turner weakily before passing out. I found the coin on his person, although I believed it to be a pirate medallion and did till about half a week ago. I hid the medallion and then to this day, I could feel the chill associated with the coin.

From time to time, I took it out of my hiding spot in the false bottom of my top bedside drawers and ran my fingers over the cold surface. It always felt oddly cold, even after holding it in my hands or often wearing it close to the skin. Being as practical of a lady as possible, I dismissed it as a quirk of the metal, possibly on how it was forged. Several years later, Captain Norrington, who had wraught a crusade against pirates, had been promoted to Commodore of the fleet. With my father as Govenor since the early years of the crossing, I believed this to be all that there was for me.

And then I couldn't breathe.

I don't care if it's fashionable, I don't care if women in London learned not to breathe. Even with the beautiful dress, I vowed to never wear a corset ever AGAIN. I could feel my RIBS BRUISING when they put the blasted thing on me. If it weren't for Jack cutting me out of it, I probably would have died at the hands of incompetent Red Coats who couldn't even SWIM. "Pride of the King's Navy, you are," he had snorted after relating the tale to us while into his second bottle.

Things went from hell to highwater shortly afterwards when these black THINGS came out of nowhere, and attacked the rescue party. Father was shook up as with most of Norrington's men, and Norrington jumped to conclusions and arrested Sora and Jack. Apparently, Sora's clothing looked similar to pirate garb and even without a remarkable brand such as the livid pink skin from a close encounter with the East India Trading Company left, he was dragged off. Goofy and Donald got away, but they were being hunted for suspcion of witchcraft. I don't blame them; a talking dog and duck dressed in clothing and shooting what apparently was MAGIC all over the place was enough to rouse the most mundane sort of folk into a witch hunt.

That night, the Black Pearl attacked. The pirates were attacking the populace, stealing things and generally causing a lot of pillage, looting and sacking. I noticed Will in the melee but at that point in time, I wasn't certain that he had noticed me, on account of getting walloped over the head.

They took me on the ship, and I tried to use Parley. It worked, for all about five minutes before Barbossa weighed anchor and took off, with me on it. He threw me into the cabin and told me to stay there, smirking about having to be a pirate to invoke Parley. I remember breaking something in frustration before I slept fitfully.

* * *

A pirate ship was run no differently than a navy one, but the way the Pearl moved was surreal. It's canvas, formerly black and full was now full of holes and tears, and I could see some black under the terrible layer of dirt and dust that layered both sides. The deck was covered in dirt, brine and other assorted things I didn't like to note. The hull was covered in barnicles, peeling black paint and the figure on the front of the pearl was almost unrecognizable under a three inch layer of grime.

Barbossa usually took to himself, talking with a guest that was as odd as Donald and Goofy. A morbidly obese cat dressed in armour continued to banter back and forth. Barbossa's tone was loud and angry, even through the cabin and the extremely fat cat was repling with an "I Told You So" tone. Being confined to the cabin, I was often privy to these conversations as I played the part of the maid. The cabin certainly deserved a clean up after all this time and I disliked entertaining the thought of wallowing in my own mire.

"I told youse guys that they had otherworldly magic," pointed out the cat that I learned was named Pete from one of the later conversations. "And you didn't listen."

"Aye, but you can't judge a man by the method he be runnin' a crew, now can ye? Especially one, that be cursed no less." Barbossa still looked furious and I realized there were a few crew members missing from the group. Barbossa had his fun earlier on, scaring several years off my life with a crew of undead pirates the night before. He continued derisively with "An ye didn't bring your part o'the bargain, Mr. Pete. We be but humble pirates, so what can we bring to ye?"

"Strong forces," replied Pete and he leaned back to pop a grape into his mouth. "Da way I figure tings," he said, eating as he did so and earning a sour expression from Barbossa for Pete eating his food, "is dat th'brat with the Keyblade'll come gunnin' for ya. Den, all ya gotta do is to do him in. Got it, see?"

"Aye that," replied Barbossa. "But where be the PROFIT in it, knocking off a single child?"

"Why, there are more treasures out in the stars than you can even count!" Pete boasted proudly and ate more of the succulent food before him. I smirked to myself. This was probably torturing Barbossa more than Pete knew by the simple task of eating. "For instance..."

One of his large meaty hands opened up and Barbossa's eyes were dazzled with a beautiful ice blue fragment. "My stars," he whispered and Pete placed it into his hands. "Tis be a piece of ice. But it be solid? Here, in the Caribbean?"

"Yup," replied Pete, proudly. "The stars are teeming wit'this junk, er, I mean, priceless material. It can be forged into protective gear, so protective dat the brat's magic'll bounce right off ya!"

Barbossa was hooked immediately, at the thought of his men becoming even more powerful than before. A solid trade off, for working with a talking cat. "Mr. Pete, I believe we have an accord." The pair shook and I felt like I had been witness to an unholy union.

* * *

The next few days were spent mulling about the cabin and often cleaning the inside of it. The men, while going through the motions of caring for the ship only put the bare minimum of work into doing so. Most of the men also took to watching me eat during mealtime, and many of them looked so hungry, I almost pitied them. Unable to satisfy any human urges, this was probably hell on earth for them. Mr. Pete, the self-proclaimed otherworlder was eating at the other end of the table, his large jowls moving up and down as he ate. He was dignified, but there was a crudeness about him as he chewed noisily. I was certain by now that the pirates were crying on the other end, with the amount of food Pete devoured.

Attempting conversation, I picked up my turkey leg and asked him, "Mr. Pete... I was curious on why you approached Barbossa. He is known for being a notorious pirate."

"Well it's a good trade off," replied Pete and the men, noting that our eating had slowed, quickly lost interest to Barbossa's barked orders to actually do something productive. "Ya see," he said conspiritorically, his voice dropping to a stage whisper as soon as the last man had left the windows and doors, "Barbossa here don't know that the things I'm'a giving him are common as the sands in the seas. Maleficient has a great horde of these things, and with so much of it, it's no skin off our noses if we give up a few dozen."

"And thus, you're actually coming out on top," I mused. "What does this... Maleficient want?"

"Well dats the thing, innit. Maleficient with a Heartless powerful 'nough to become immortal in the daylight to the keybearer? It's enough to bring her plans to fruition and gain Kingdom Hearts." Pete said this with a conviction and smugness, that I was worried on what this meant for our world. The planet was such a big place, and most of it was still being discovered since the days of Colombus, but it worried me that something out there, something ALIEN could be plotting our downfall as we spoke.

Swallowing a little harder than I thought needed, I sipped my wine and said, "Barbossa won't like it if you give him a bunch of useless junk."

"Oh it ain't useless," said Pete."I didn't lie when I said it could be forged into protective gear. But that's the ting; there's no one on this world who has the skill to do so!"

Pete certainly had all of the cards thus far. I quietly hoped that there were things to take care of that would delay Barbossa on the path to where ever he was bringing me.

* * *

I didn't pay much attention to the speech Barbossa was giving, something about the blood of fathers being repaid. The ivory knife in his hands really did make me worried however and he was waving it about, ranting to the men who cheered him on. The coin was put into my hands and before I could do anything, he cut it. Blood welled across the coin, and he made certain it got on it before my hand was opened up. My other hand pulled out a handkerchief and I pressed it to my hand, gritting at the sharp pain that accompanied it.

Barbossa stood in the middle, his arms outstretched as he leaned back, prepared to recieve his ultimate reward. When nothing happened, one of the pirates asked, "So... how do we know if it worked?"

Barbossa's answer was to shoot him. And when the crew member didn't die, he rounded on me and grabbed me by my shoulders. "Your father! Your FATHER! WAS YOUR FATHER WILLIAM TURNER!"

I couldn't give him an adequate reply and I was sent tumbling down behind the pile and out of sight. Not soon afterwards, Will showed up and together, we escaped.

The tunnels were nagivated quickly and Sora accompanied Will, a concerned expression on his face. "Where's Jack?" he demanded.

"He got left behind," Will replied and I knew that according to the code, any man who is left behind, stays behind. Sora lodged a protest but it fell on deaf ears as he, Donald and Goofy busied themselves with a horde of the black creatures once more. The boat awaited us and then we were hauled upon the _Interceptor._ After some initial confusion of seeing Mr. Gibbs as a pirates crew and Gibbs asking Will the same question, we set sail. Apparently, Will and Jack had made it to the island together, but only Will was the one who completed the mission.

* * *

I could bore you with a long drawn out story or the drama with Will having his worldview shattered in an instant, but I suppose I can skip to the chase. To make a long story short, Barbossa caught up with us and he subsequently marooned myself, Sora and Jack. He even refused Jack a new pistol, giving him a new one. "For the missus," Barbossa mocked and Sora made a face. He went into the water first but the boy swims like a fish. Gracefully even, and he mocked Barbossa by making subsequent dives, jumps and acting like a dolphin.

So, that night, Sora managed to conjour up some fire and we had a crackling merry bonfire. While it was warm in the Caribbean, being on an island with Rum as our only sustinance was less than tempting, especially after Commodore Norrington had wiped out the Rumrunners. I must thank him for our premature doom with a swift kick to the shins.

"You... are the Captain of the Bizzare," Jack was saying to Sora as the pair drunk. I on the other hand was contemplating how much of a bonfire the trees could make as a signal flare. The boy and pirate, both royally smashed, were giggling about something of Sora's companions being less than true to their reality. A dog and duck who didn't go woof or quack and did typical animal-type things were quite bizzare to me as well. But I withheld my tongue and indulged in a round of jaunty pirate songs.

I learned a few things that night.

One : For a child, Sora can hold his drink. It took him another three bottles before passing out face first in the tide. Jack hauled him out of the waters edge and dragged him to the fire where he slept for most of the night.

Two : Jack is far too complex for his own good. Eccentric to say the least, definitely not mad, there was a keen mind and an even quicker wit behind his complexity. He told me how he sacced Nassaeu Port without firing a single shot that night; claimed that he and his shipmates had dressed up as priests and conned the whole port out of tradeable goods.

Three : Rum burns nicely.

When Jack woke up to the smell of burning plant life and a mighty crackling roar, he was livid, if not almost mad with fear. "BUT WHY THE RUM!" he whined like a child and I forced myself to remain stern. Sora had a monsterous hangover, not uncommon for a child who had indulged for the first time.

Norrington and father came on the Dauntless soon enough, and we were saved. Well, correct that; I was saved. Sora and Jack were imprisoned and Norrington made one of his horrible cliche one-liners. Honestly, does the man own a book of PUNS?

Sora noticed the ship first on the horizon and the subsequent Isle de Muerta in the distance. Jack convinced the Commodore to help them out and then the plans were put into action.

Sora, pointed his keyblade into the air and then called out "GENIE!" A big blue... thing, appeared and posed dramatically as he spun a staff that looked like a wand. "Bing bang boom, Sora, I'm heeeere!"

"Well... that's interesting," remarked Jack as father and the Commodore gaped long enough for flies to run suicide down their throats. The Genie named, well, Genie, grabbed them around the middle and we flew off into the distance.

* * *

Liberating the pirate crew on the Black Pearl was fairly easy, but the rest of the adventure was more harrowing. The Pearl sailed off merrily and after a big battle that involved a fight in and out of the moonlight, Sora, Donald and Goofy in their element and finding out quickly that I was very good at using a staff... or ten foot gold plated septre as it were, we finally cut down Barbossa after Jack tossed Will his coin and the pair broke the curse.

"I feel... cold," said Barbossa and then he died unceremoniously. For one so threatening as Barbossa, it was a fairly inglorious death, getting shot through the chest.

Jack looked at the coins in the chest and then, picked one out suddenly. "The _Immortal_ Captain Jack Sparrow," he said, fingering the coin over in his hands. "has a nice ring to it, don't it?"

"Jack," said Will in warning and with a sigh, Jack cut his hand and dropped the coin into the chest. The chest suddenly banged shut with the sound of stone on stone. Sora's keyblade shone and a beam of light came out of it to strike the chest. The chest was sealed, from what Sora said. I was hoping it was for the long run.

Jack took some trinkets out of the cache but I doubt the Commodore really caught onto the signifigance of the objects he took out. One would think that a crown, a few rings and a necklace or two would have been a sign that said "There Be Treasure Here", but the Commodore isn't a man to be swayed by treasure. Or notice it for that matter.

* * *

Well what can I say? The day was won, I was prepared to marry the Commodore, even though Will and I were meant for each other, and Jack was getting hung. Sora wasn't hanging there but since Norrignton apparently equated him to pirate, he was standing next to him. Funny, Sora looks rather SMUG from this angle.

"Jack Sparrow," pronounced the town crier and I could hear Jack muttering "Captain. _Captain_ Jack Sparrow..."

The list of crimes were quite long and large, although I noticed Jack smirk in memory at a few. Sora fidgeted at the side but his hands were working rapidly on his bonds. Irons, however were hard to get out of.

The drum roll begun and I saw Will shoving through the crowd. I faked fainting to give him time to do whatever he was going to do, and then there was a loud SHUNK as Will's beautiful sword lodged itself into the wood. Wonderful technique that, I mused as I got back up suddenly to watch Jack catch himself on the sword. A brilliant fight broke out and Sora helped the escape along the way, breaking his bonds (they were encased in ice for all intents and purposes), and casting a spell at the charging Red Coats. "Magnet!"

The Red Coats went flying into the ball of crackling magic and Jack and Will almost made it away. Almost, being the key word. It was time for me to interfere.

Norrington looked defeated but a small smile graced his expression as Jack took a headlong plummet into the water down below. "This is a beautiful sword," he said, examining the blade in his hands. "I would think that a man who treats a sword with such respect to treat Elizabeth well."

Will's expression grew into a wide smile and he stammered out, "Thank you sir!"

"SIR!" cried Gilette. "What about Sparrow?"

A smirk, not unlike one that I saw on Jack's face graced Norrington's expression. "Oh I believe we can give Captain Jack Sparrow... one day's head start?"

Leaving a wake of puzzled Red Coats behind, Sora grinned and said, "Well, I guess we gotta be going too. Tell Jack we'll see him again."

"You three keep safe," said Will and he and Sora shook. Then, without warning, they dissolved into streaks of light and vanished high into the skies.

Father asked me if this was my choice. I smiled and said, "He's not blacksmith. He's a PIRATE."


	4. Max

Kingdom Hearts Gaiden

Written by Shaun Garin

Kingdom Hearts in all incarnations belongs to SquareEnix and Disney. Warner Bros. Owns It's Own Stuff.

* * *

04: Max

* * *

Ever get the feeling you're living in someone's shadow? And no matter how far you wander from it, it always lingers, casting a link between you and the caster? I felt like that even now.

My dad's the Captain of the Guard, and my best friend is the son of a traitor. I can't say that life here in Disney Castle is NORMAL by any stretch of the imagination, but it has it's days. Although I always felt like I was being compared to him in every which way possible. The only person who didn't seem like he was had been dad himself. At times I'd blow up in my own teenager-ish way and he'd just smile and laugh in his way that I found myself starting to do.

Dad never compared me to anyone. He always encouraged me to be myself, but it's hard because people look at us like we're the clones of our fathers.

But you think my life is rough? Look at PJ. His dad, Pete was always a troublemaker, but when he started making more trouble than just selling a few bad pieces of land, it got to the point that King Mickey had to banish him to a remote part of the universe. It was tough on PJ and his mom and little sister; PJ and I were twelve when it happened, Pistol was seven.

Mrs. P was, well, IS a tough lady. I asked her one time why she married Mr. P a long time ago. She just smiled and said something along the lines of "He had something in him that made me love him". I guess love is something you can't understand, even when you think you know everything at the age of seventeen.

People look at PJ and at times I worry, because they give him these cold stares like they expect him to become a clone of his father. Not just in size but in personality. We spend a lot of time together when I'm not training with the squires and he's working at the science labs. PJ always was more technologically savvy than I was so we went into different fields.

The Knights of the Triangle Table were the order my father captained when he was still around. When he left to find the key with the royal court magician Donald Duck, that position has been awkwardly vacant. But people give me looks as if they want me to suddenly step into my fathers shoes. But when I looked at the chair, all I could see was a Goofy-shaped shadow that lingered over it.

I could run my hand over the fine polished grain of wood and still feel the warmth of his touch on the arm where he'd fall asleep leaning on it during meetings. My own chair is several seats down, almost at the tip of the triangular shaped table. Whoever thought of a triangle was off their rocker since that end tends to jab me in the stomach.

When it got too much, PJ and I went out to the garden so we could practice. We're big skateboarders and I know that a lot of places have similar devices on their world. PJ likes to film me since we make movies and videos out of the extreme sports that we do since he refers to the skateboard as a potential "Plank of death".

So here I was, pulling tricks and zipping around the bushes when suddenly, a platoon of HEARTLESS pull themselves from the ground. Old training snapped to attention and PJ had noticed. "GET THE GUARD!" I yelled at my best friend and PJ took off, zooming away on his Skateboard with a few of the little black bugs following him.

One of the things they taught us at the academy was "never stay and fight". Heartless were nasty things, able to swarm and overwhelm someone in an instant. Still, something inside me said, "screw that" and I flipped my skateboard into my hands as a makeshift shield.

The next fifteen to twenty minutes were nothing but a blur, moving fast and slashing creatures left and right. One of them tried to ambush me from atop Horacio's Statue. I blocked it, kicked another away and grabbed its foot. Using it like a living bowling ball, I hurled it into the pack where it knocked Heartless clean away.

My arms burned and sweat got into my eyes. I knew I was tiring and they seemed to sense it, closing in. Lifting the skateboard to shield myself from the next blow, the leaping heartless backed off as at least three were sliced by a glittering wave of silver. In the haze of the adrenaline pounding in my ears, the distinct warble of "THUNDER" echoed in the courtyard as warm hands pulled me to my feet.

"Are you okay, Maxie?" intoned my father.

I froze in shock. Dad? Here? NOW?!

"DAD!" I exclaimed but he merely pushed me aside to slash a Heartless in two with the sharp edge of his shield.

"Are you okay, Max?" he inquired once more and I nodded dumbly. "Good. Are you okay to fight with us?"

My heart thudded in my chest. "Me?" I stammered, looking at my dad. I've never seen him like this before. He was so INTENSE, his black brow furrowed as he glared at the Heartless, daring them to come any closer. The court magician Donald Duck and the boy whom according to my father's letters was named Sora, were leading the Heartless in a merry chase around the yard.

Dad nodded. In that instant, I felt like I was on top of the world. Grinning and snapping a crisp salute, I picked up my skateboard with a snap of my foot on the heel, flipping it into my hands. "Say the word, Captain."

"Flanking maneuver, alpha beta," snapped my dad and I followed him, clearing a path between us and the Keybearer. Between the four of us, we were a whirlwind of death; cutting Heartless of all types down, ducking magic and casting our own until finally PJ arrived, a platoon of storm trooper-type guards clanking into the yard, Queen Minnie right behind them.

"Alpha Guards, support the Keybearer and your Captain," ordered the Queen. "Beta Guards, clear the mobs before us. PJ, come with me."

Queen Minnie, like her husband was an excellent magician. Her tiny delicate fingers wove together powerful Holy and Pearl spells, casting them into whole scores of the seemingly unstoppable Heartless. Whole battalions died under the overwhelming force of the Queen's might, and Donald Duck unleashed a terrible Flare that ripped a crater into the midst.

In the middle of the chaos, my dad came out of nowhere, slashing and ducking beside me and the Keybearer who offered a breathless "Sora, nice t'meet ya."

"Max," I replied and together along with PJ, we drove the Heartless into a seething pack of enemies.

"HOLY!" roared the Queen at the top of her lungs as Donald chimed in with the deadliest spell he knew, a spell that dad commanded for everyone to hit the pavement. "ULTIMA!"

In an instant, the pair of energies collided and obliterated the wave of Heartless.

* * *

Disney Castle wasn't known for its high quality of Heartless, but the sheer overwhelming amount was, to say the least, worrisome.

Pistol and Mrs. P had arrived on-scene as well as CMO Dr. Clarabelle. Mrs. P worked in the orphanage, tending kids who had arrived on our world as refugees of their own dying. The orphanage had been greatly reduced in number as of late since Sora had restored a vast majority of them with his actions two years ago.

Pistol's five years younger than me or Peej but at the age of eleven, she's so different from the hyperactive little gunny sack of energy that I remembered at seven. She's training to be a medic, but at the same time had extreme interest in real estate; like her father. No one dissuaded Pistol once she set her mind to it, her hyperactive ADD-like state reduced to a quiet intensity that was years beyond her own maturity.

Peej often said that his sister was almost scary at times, but Mrs. P knew better when I asked her about her daughter. Pistol had grown up without her dad and she had loved him a lot. When Pete had been exiled from Disney Castle, there was no one to reclaim the good name. Pistol had grown up ridiculed for her traitor father, much like PJ had, but unlike PJ, she coped by becoming a well-trained financier. Oh sure the nobles talked about the mercenary daughter of Pete, but no one could argue she wasn't effective.

"There, how does it feel?" inquired the nurse attending to the scratches on my arm.

"Er, great actually, it doesn't hurt as badly now," I stammered, trying not to blush. The girl who worked on my arm was Roxanne, a girl I've had a crush on for three years at the academy. Despite being the son of the Captain of the Guard, I'm so far down on the food chain, you'd have to be a Naked Mole Rat to get any lower. She was great; smart, pretty, completely un-self absorbed like those other airheads at the popular table, and she stopped to help a kid who was picked on all the time. The girls gossiped about her as usual, high school academics being the piranha pit of evil as usual, but no one wanted to mess with her since her father is on the Table itself; a massive bear-like man who quite frankly scares me.

Dad is over at the Triangle Table with Queen Minnie, Lady Daisy, Uncle Donald and Sora, discussing plans on how to protect the world from another mass invasion that we just fended off. Five more chairs were vacant, their owners missed from the conversation.

The first missing chair belonged to Horacio, the Captain of the Guard before dad. He was the one who first organized the people into an armed force when the time came and his statue stood as a monument to his courage in the middle of the gardens. He had been lost on one of the early gummi expeditions when his ship went down on a random world. The second empty chair belonged to Ludwig von Drake, the head scientist who hadn't arrived just yet. He was in the employ of the owner of the third missing chair, Scrooge McDuck of Duckburg. Scrooge himself was missing from the line up of people, having gone to Radiant Garden to oversee shipping and handling of his goods. Both were terribly influential, and Scrooge held onto nearly 75% of the world's wealth in his giant Money Vault.

The fourth one belonged to King Mickey, the massive chair sitting at the table. I have fond memories of the King as he would often nod off during long meetings with air-bags of ministers. And finally, the last chair, equally large as the kings but set for a man triple if not four times his size: Uncle Pete.

Most people hated Uncle Pete for his part in trying to overthrow the King, but knowing him for so many years previous sometimes made me wonder what had him throw his lot in with the Dark Fairy. Many people wanted to get rid of the chair, but the King refused. I heard that the King once worked for Pete during the Pre-formation Days, before the Pen of Walt Disney combined with the Cornerstone of Light brought color to the world, creating the castle before us.

Sora was trying not to nod off during the planning, being tired from the long trip. He was sitting in a sixth chair, this one disused and still bearing dust from years of storage. But the Queen insisted on him sitting at the table.

He looks so SMALL compared to the chair he was sitting in, a chair built for a man, upright and strong. I've seen that same chair in the archives, and never before had anyone sat there since Walter Disney helped start the Formation.

That's where things get a LITTLE bit fuzzy.

Y'see, according to the history books, no one can decide on what Walt Disney really WAS; a normal man, a bard, a mage, a creator of reality or a destroyer of the mundane. They said he came from a world, bearing a pen that could bring imagination to life. Thus, many call him The Imagineer; a special man who could bring dreams to life. Some believe he was here all this time, waiting for the time when he could share his dream with the world. Honestly I don't know what to believe myself; I was born after the Reformation so I couldn't honestly say.

"We must have the Guard strengthen patrols," decided Queen Minnie after she shushed everyone who were in a hot debate about what to do. "But for this to work, we need to unite the nation of Toontown into a whole."

"That might be a little harder to do than it sounds Queen Minnie," Dad pointed out, scratching his head in that way that made him look like a galoot. "The Republic of Warner hasn't spoken to us cordially in ages. We don't know if they'll be willing to unite against the Heartless."

"We won't know if we don't try," interrupted Sora as he leaped to his feet. "We've got to send a message or something! They could have been attacked by Heartless already."

"The Republic closed its doors for years. We don't even know if we can get across the border, Sora." Stated Uncle Donald.

As Sora and Uncle Donald growled at each other, something in me grew. I don't know if it was foolishness or bravery, but actually to be honest, it was probably mostly foolishness. Getting to my feet, I slapped my hands on the table. "I'll go," I proclaimed, drawing shocked expressions from everyone. "Someone has to go. Dad can't, nor can Uncle Donald. They're needed here."

"Then I'll—" started Sora but I shook my head, cutting him off.

"You can't Sora, you're needed here too. The Keyblade would draw the Heartless to the Republic and that's the last thing we need."

"Maxie… Max. Are you sure you want to do this?" inquired Dad, his brow furrowed in some kind of emotion I hadn't seen on his face before. "Because you know, a trip to the Republic is a ten day trip on Gummi Rail. And there'll be danger along the way with the Heartless out and about."

"I'm sure dad. Me and Peej'll go."

* * *

"Man I can't believe you got me into this," groused PJ as he shouldered his pack. I grinned a little at him and he punched me in the shoulder. "Seriously man, we're going to be in so much trouble if we don't pull this off!"

"Will you stop worrying? We'll be fine!" I laughed, despite the ball of ice that sat in my stomach. "Look, we're armed and we're dangerous, and we're just bringing a letter to the Regent Lord. We'll be okay."

PJ heaved a sigh in that way that usually said "we're doomed". It was an expression I was long familiar with since he always used The Sigh when we were younger. "All right man, but if I become Heartless chow, you're coming with me. Deal?"

"Deal." And we fist-pounded. Seriously, what else was I supposed to say? No, I'll leave you to the heart-sucking aliens? Like hell!

"So, where's our guide?" I asked PJ as we got to the Gummi Rail. The Gummi Rail was built by the Gummi's of Gummi Glen before they left for their own world, but it was well maintained and used regularly. There would be two stops in major cities, one in Duckburg and one in St. Canard before we crossed the Great Sea to get to Outer Toontown.

That would be where it would get weird.

"Are you two Sir Max and Sir PJ?"

Of course I could be wrong.

Standing in front of us, barely knee-high was a pink hairless mole rat, wearing high tech battle armor. Despite the fact he was a naked mole rat with muscles bigger than my leg, I'd would have thought this was a common occurrence.

All I could do was stare however and the mole rat stared back at me before nodding. "So it is you two. Very well, come along. I am Rufus 9000, the newest generation descended from Rufus Prime."

"Wait, I thought we were only on the 3000 series," stated PJ in a sort of dazed tone as we took our seats on the Rail car.

"They were, but we're the new batch," explained Rufus. "I've been sent to escort you two as a protector."

"Nice to know they have such confidence in us," I stated sourly.

"Actually they do. I'm just here to ensure you go through with your mission."

Translation: They really wanted me and Peej to succeed, and I gotta say, that's sort of comforting. The Rufus line of warriors were some of the toughest clone armies around, a move sanctioned by the Stoppable Accord, three years ago.

With three days on the Gummi Rail, I highly expected there would be some trouble. To get through to Duckburg and then over to St. Canard, we had to travel through the Black Forest and around Death Mountain, two major landmarks that would have been impossible to traverse if it weren't for the Great Gummis that built the rail system for our people.

The Black Forest was home to some of the worst rogues this world had to offer. Oh sure, even a peaceful land governed by Disney Castle, but there were the odd people who made trouble here and there. Black Mountain was said to be the site where a great monster was fought long ago, but after the reuniting of the worlds, it just sort fizzed into view. Fortunately our world made allowances for it, but it's still a nasty piece of work, with all of the goblins and witches that inhabited the peaks.

Fortunately for us, the time it took to get through to St. Canard was spent mostly in lazy stupor, playing cards or swapping video game systems. It was when we pulled into St. Canard when our progress was hampered.

"What's going on?" Peej asked Rufus 9000 who wore an annoyed look on his face.

"The Great Red Line was attacked by Heartless three days ago," informed Rufus, seemingly growling in his own language about the timing. "They took down a few miles of the Red Line, and it'll take a few weeks to repair. Fortunately I had planned for this."

His PLAN was simple: we hop a train to the port town of Cape Suzette. It was a shipping lane, usually fishing and airplane commerce. But there was also two major hitches in that plan too, something I knew pretty well.

The first was Air Pirates, which technically shouldn't prove to be much of a problem IF we were taking a passenger liner. But we weren't. We were taking a flight on the good old _Sea Duck_, Uncle Baloo's plane. That isn't to say that Uncle Baloo isn't a good pilot, he's a GREAT pilot. The hard part there was to convince his "boss", the woman who bought out his self-run company months ago: Rebecca Cunningham.

Rebecca was pretty tough, as far as women went. She and dad had history before she moved out to Cape Suzette. Not THAT kind of history, but she kept one-upping him in some kind of class or something. I forget. The point is here that we had to convince Rebecca to lend us the use of Baloo and his plane. And then adding in the threat of Air Pirates and the fact that we were going to fly into Restricted International Waters was a big problem in itself.

I could hear her now.

Oh wait, I could.

"YOU WANT TO DO WHAT?!" shrilled Rebecca, making every man within twenty yards flinch from the force of her voice, save for Rufus 9000. And even Rufus 9000 looked a little frazzled from her shriek.

"Of all the crazy, irresponsible, half-baked plans you could come up with…!" added Rebecca before Uncle Baloo interjected.

He was good at that.

Somewhat.

"Aw c'mon Becky, we need to help them out," reasoned Uncle Baloo, patting Peej over the shoulders and ruffling my hair like I was a kid or something. "They're on orders from the Queen, and you know those are important."

"The business is still important," retorted Rebecca icily. "If we fly into Restricted Airspace, we'd be thrown into the Wackyland Prison faster than you could say Shere Khan."

"We CAN avoid that," replied Peej as he fished out the documents. "Max and I are official couriers of the Queen herself so that should extend to any vehicle and people we are in the company of."

Ah good old PJ; he always knew how to defuse a situation. When did he get so good at that I wonder?

Rebecca blew an exasperated sigh through her lips before relenting. "All right, but Baloo, you CANNOT go out of your way. Just bring them there and back. No detours."

"Aw you know me, I never go LOOKING for trouble," grinned Baloo and his adopted ward, Kit, grinned up at him. There was an unspoken "USUALLY" in that and it filled me with both dread and anticipation.

Maybe this trip wasn't going to be a COMPLETE loss after all.

* * *

The trip to Louie's Air Station was quiet and uneventful. Maybe Don Karnage had finally given up exacting his revenge on Uncle Baloo. But then again, I could be wrong: you never knew with him.

It's no big secret that Uncle Baloo and the Don, self-proclaimed King of the Air Pirates had a long-standing rivalry that started when Baloo first picked up Kit from the pirates and brought him in as his ward. The pair, plus other assorted people who seemed to gravitate around Uncle Baloo often derailed countless schemes of the Don for years.

So it was sort of a relief that we got to Louie's without incident.

Following Uncle Baloo into the station while waiting for the fill, Louie, the proprietor of the place waved, grinning from ear to ear. "Baloo! Kit! Well it's been a while. What's going on, Rebecca keeping you two tethered to the Cape?"

"Aw you know Becky, always trying to get me to do actual work," grinned Baloo and the pair shared a fist pound as well as one of Louie's drinks.

"And who're these two? Passengers? You know how you feel about passengers Baloo," added Louie, looking the pair of us over. "Official looking kids too."

"PJ and Max of the Knights of the Triangle Table," I introduced for both of us. Technically we were just Squires in Training but a title was a title. Louie seemed to brush that off and served us drinks before we settled down.

"So how long does it take the _Duck_ to be refueled Mr. Baloo?" inquired Peej. "Due to the weight of the plane plus added cargo Miss Cunningham is making you bring along…"

"Aw she'll take a while to drink, so just sit back and relax. We're all among friends here!" chuckled Baloo as he leaned back with a drink. "The only threat up here is Air Pirates, and we've always got the Don on the run."

"Das is vhat you think!" proclaimed an accented voice from the door as it was kicked open with a boot, the doors swinging inward – and snapping back to smack the owner in the face.

The Don struggled back to his feet in a sort of ungainly scramble before straightening his lapels. "Baloo! You have thwarted me time and time again, yes? Now we settles the scores!"

"Aw c'mon Karnie, can't we do this later?" groused Baloo, getting to his feet and lazily rolling his enormous shoulders in preparation for a fight.

"NO!" proclaimed the Don and his expression, already feral with rage turned even angrier as a sinister feeling crept up my spine. "Today, it is you who will be doing ze runnings, yes?! Because I, Don Karnage, will have the pleasure of knocking you down!"

That's when the room was flooded with Heartless.

"FUCK!" I yelled, startling every resident in range who were staring at the shadows creeping out of the ground and the Air Pirates who were descending from orbs in the sky. "EVERYONE OUT! DON'T FIGHT, RUN!"

Peej and I exploded into action, my shield lancing out as it rebounded off walls before returning to my arm. Five shadows exploded into smoke as PJ pulled a tab on his oversized backpack. A huge weapon system burst free from the canvas bag, and he loosed shockwaves of supersonic noise that blew holes in the bar, throwing heartless left and right.

Those hardy enough to fight had taken up weapons stored somewhere and were helping with the melee. But more and more shadows began to pile into the room and the Air Pirates were strafing us with magical fire from the roof. "We need to get rid of their controller," ordered Rufus 9000 who had leaped to a chandelier to fight the Air Pirates with an oversized rifle. "If we take out Karnage, most of his army will crumble."

"That's a line I don't cross," growled Baloo as he slammed a chair atop a Air Pirate and his friends, watching them explode into smoke. "Can't we just knock him unconscious?"

"Hard to do," puffed Peej as he fired more sonic disruptions into the room, scattering more Heartless everywhere. "Even unconscious, Karnage's heart'll be putting out enough darkness to draw them wherever he lands."

"And that's something we don't need." I groaned.

Baloo looked thoughtful for a moment before he said, "Cover me. I've got an idea."

With the force of, well a bear, Uncle Baloo charged into the pack, throwing Heartless from side to side. From one of his shirt pockets, he pulled out some kind of knuckles. With a bellow of "KARNIE, LETS DANCE!" he slugged Karnage across the face. I swear I saw some teeth fly from that blow.

Immediately the Heartless became disoriented, their controller being disrupted in focus. I grinned and held up my shield, a wave of power flowing around it. "HIT THEM NOW!" I yelled as I swung the shield forward, the round disk bounding from Heartless to Heartless, vaporizing many in a single blow. More weapons discharged as Uncle Baloo and Karnage went toe to toe in an old fashioned boxing match.

Fortunately for Uncle Baloo, he was a lot hardy and way bigger than the Don, and soon, the Don went down like a sack of hammers. Just in time might I add since the last of the Heartless fell to a gunshot from Louie who looked pretty upset that his place was thrashed.

Fortunately he had insurance as Baloo, PJ, Rufus and I hightailed it out of there.

* * *

Toontown East.

Unlike Disneyland where there were several cities standing independent of the giant Castle Disney, Toontown was a huge frolicking mess, the boundaries ever-changing from day to day. And everything talked in there. I'm serious. Even the planes which escorted us in were talking.

"They'll be sending a limo shortly," stated the toon who had arrived to pick us up. He had a sour expression and huge buck teeth and looked like he had a chip on his shoulder like the Rock of Gibraltar. Silently I wondered who he was and why he looked so familiar. But when he turned away to make certain the car arrived properly, Peej leaned in and whispered, "That's Montana Max, one of the former richest kids and toons in Toontown."

"What happened? Spent his money?"

"Tried to overthrow the kingdom," replied Rufus, a sardonic expression on his face. "He's serving his community service."

"Where is that blasted car?!" demanded Max, obviously out of patience.

That was when the car ran OVER him, the rear end literally flipping upwards and slamming down from the force of the break. From it, a rabbit popped out before peeling Max out from under the rear wheel.

"Maxie! There you are!" proclaimed the toon whom I recognized as Roger Rabbit. He and my dad had history, like he seems to have with every person in this world.

Oh, you're probably wondering why we call them toons. That's because the Republic of Warner were a little different than the inhabitants of Disneyland.

You see, it's said that while Walter Disney came and breathed life into our world, there was also another creator who came along with him. Both had the same dream, to create and bring inspiration. But while Walter placed certain physical limitations upon us, the legendary creator was full of laughter and most importantly, gags.

Using his own ability the creator, whom we refer to as Marvin Acme, infused his people with the power of Gags; an ability that allowed them to defy most physical limitations that hamper us of Disneyland. It was here where Roger Rabbit made his home.

And so did another as Peej nudged me in the shoulder, gazing upon the woman before us.

Tall, red hair, luscious curves and a voice so sultry and a smile so brilliant, you had to view it through smoked glass. She wore a simple button-down shirt and skirt, but there was no hiding that this woman was SMOKING.

Unfortunately for the viewing audience, she was also taken.

"Oh Roger, hunnybunch, you ran over Maxie again," cooed Jessica Rabbit as she patted Max back into shape. "I'm sure Roger didn't mean anything by it, okay?" And she kissed Max on the cheek.

The little shrimp practically melted into a puddle before reforming. Nodding rapidly, he stammered out, "J-just a mistake ma'am, I was standing in the wrong spot. I'll get their bags ma'am!"

On the way there, Jessica sat across from me and Peej while Rufus 9000 sat next to her, looking stoic as usual. Roger was up front driving and despite his maniac fishtails and high speed interceptions and the usual "MANIAC!" that crowed from the pedestrians, the ride was surprisingly smooth.

No sooner than we had left, than we arrived at the Republic Tower. Well, it was less than a tower than it was a giant castle, similar in stature to Disney Castle in both majestic view and location. The Republic Tower as we refer to it was located exactly in the middle of Toontown, or as close to the middle as you could get. The banner of the Republic, a large shield with WB emblazoned behind a black anvil hung everywhere.

The enormous gates rumbled open and here, we swallowed our fears. This was it, the moment of truth.

Nervously, we followed Jessica and Roger up to the castle. Did I mention that they were nobles? Yeah, strange nobles. But then again, this is a strange, strange, mad world.

Ringing the doorbell twice, knocking once, and hitting a gong with an anvil-shaped hammer, the doors rumbled open as trumpets blared practically in our faces.

"PRESENTING THEIR HIGHEST OF HIGHNESSES," bellowed an equally loud crier, a kid half my size, in my ear, and dimly I wondered "their?" as he continued, "THE REGENT LORDS OF THE REGENCY, THEIR REGENT LORDS YAKKO WARNER AND WAKKO WARNER, AND THEIR GRAND SISTER, THE REGENT DUTCHESS PRINCESS ANGELINA CONTESSA LOUISA FRANCESCA BANANA FANNA BO BESCA THE THIRD!"

A pause.

"BUT YOU MAY CALL HER DOT!" roared the kid crier.

Ow. I think I'm deaf.

The huge doors on the other side and from it, marched a procession. Nobles first, then guards, then several ponies and horses…

When the mime was squished by an anvil, PJ muttered out from the side of his head "We're in the Twilight Zone, Max…"

And finally when the equally long limousine that could violate twenty blocks of traffic rules pulled up to us, a familiar black duck got out, ran over to the door and popped it open – only to get ambushed by three teenagers, dressed in royal finery.

"THANKS DAFFY!" they proclaimed before drenching him in a sloppy kiss.

Daffy Duck, the highest noble to date next to the previous Regent Lord, wiped his face of a bucket of slobber before bowing gracefully, his back to the limo.

That was when the Limo ran him over backing up.

"Hey everybody, we're the Warner Brothers!" proclaimed the pair of male Warners who stood before them. In their uncomfortable looking finery, the boys looked perfectly happy at the thought of being dressed in either pants or just a shirt. I never could get into that mind you.

"And I'm the Warner Sister," proclaimed the last, drawing our attention to her. She was equally tall compared to her brothers if an inch or two shorter, dressed in a fancy princess dress. Her white face had a beauty mark on the side and she batted her eyelashes at us before stating "But just call me Dot. Call me Dottie and you die."

"Hoo-kay," I stated. Really, what DO you say?

"Good Regents, we are messengers from Queen Minnie of Disney Castle," stated Rufus 9000, salvaging the awkwardness of the situation. "This is Squire Max of the Triangle Table, and his friend PJ."

"Also Squire," I pointed out hastily, lest anyone think less of PJ.

Yakko clapped his hands twice, and within seconds, all of the finery was whisked away as the Warners put on a table. Like the Triangle Table, it was shield-shaped with the emblem of the Regency. Sitting down on the wide side, they gestured to us to sit.

Ow. Is it just me, or do I always get stuck with the pointy end of these tables?

Yakko folded his hands under his chin, putting on a thinking expression. "Do you have the message?" inquired the eldest with a startling air of authority, born from years of rule.

I nodded and pulled it out, PJ handing it over to Yakko who popped it open with a flick of his finger and reading it over.

His siblings craned their necks way over to look at it, and I inwardly shuddered at the act of stretching the neck so far. After some assorted mumblings from the siblings, heads snapped back into place and Yakko set the letter down. "So, heartless."

"That is correct," nodded Rufus. "The Heartless have come to our world, and with it, a new threat. Already the Keybearer is preparing to correct this problem, but we need the Regency to aid in the defense of our world."

"Seems kinda involved," drawled Wakko lazily, but there was a look in his eye.

"It does mean the safety of our people. Bugs would have wanted us to do it." Pointed out Yakko.

"Excuse me, Regent Lords," asked Peej, drawing attention to him. "But what happened to the previous Regent, Sir Bugs Bunny?"

"Oh he just retired," grinned Dot easily. "He lives out on his estate, tending to his carrot gardens."

"And since we were next in line, we got the throne. Pretty neat, huh?" added Yakko. "All right, we Warners will meditate on the situation for now. Please stay the night and enjoy the party we'll most likely throw in your honor."

* * *

"Looking good bro," I offered to Peej as he walked out in a well-kept tuxedo. I myself was in my knights colors, having not expected to need formal stuff on the trip, but Peej had thought ahead.

"Thanks. Hey, do you think the Regents'll be there?" inquired PJ, nervously adjusting his cufflinks.

"Well yeah, they are throwing this bash for us," I replied. "What's up?"

"Oh uh, just y'know, thinking and all."

PJ was fidgeting. He only fidgeted under two things: being confronted about his dad and a girl.

And since his last love interest went down in a ball of flames…

I grinned and slung a arm around my best friends' shoulder. "Oh to be in love again," I drawled. "The Regent Queen IS pretty cute, ain't she?"

"Oh come off it," snorted PJ nervously as he punched me in the side. "What about you and Roxanne? You can't even say three words to her!"

"Oh low blow," I proclaimed, rolling my eyes as we arrived at the doors where Rufus 9000 stood, dressed in a tuxedo. Seriously, did EVERYONE remember their tuxedos and not me?

"Ready?" he inquired. "You two look preoccupied."

"Guy stuff Rufus, s'all," I said and Rufus nodded before beckoning to that insanely loud crier kid.

Good thing I came prepared and I stoppered my ears.

"PRESENTING SQUIRE MAX, HIS FRIEND SQUIRE PJ AND RUFUS 9000!"

Not more than a few toons looked shook up at the screaming kid, but most took it well as we mingled amidst the toons that were wining and dining amidst each other.

"Hey!" proclaimed a pair of rabbits, one blue and one pink who walked up to us. The girl was dressed in a red dress and the guy was dressed in a tuxedo.

Okay, I'm starting to sense a PATTERN.

"Buster Bunny," said the blue rabbit, shaking PJ's arm so hard that his teeth rattled.

"Babs Bunny," added the girl, delicately shaking mine.

"No relation," the pair chorused and by the enormous rock the girl wore and the possessive way Buster held onto her, it was pretty obvious.

"So you two are the ambassadors from Disney Castle, eh?" asked Buster, picking up a pair of carrot martinis and passing one to his girl. "I expected someone a little…"

"More knightly?" put in Babs and I sighed, rolling my eyes.

"Not really that, just more ready for a ball," pointed out Buster.

Okay, the Sea of Tuxedos was starting to get to me. Really. Instead though, I grinned and laughed.

"Knights colors are acceptable in formal events," recited PJ from memory, and I had to agree. Dad liked it better than wearing a stuffy old tuxedo. Thank you Peej.

"It's cool though, we don't really have knights here in the Republic," stated Buster, chewing on a carrot-appetizer. "We've got the police and all, but that's about as far as the pole-cat swings if you know what I mean."

I didn't, chalked it up to a local expression and nodded.

The night wore on after Buster and Babs filled me and PJ in, telling us about the history of the place, things we hadn't heard of before and some of the more important people in the room. High Judge Foghorn Leghorn, The Minister of Defense Tweety Bird, High Admiral Taz, the list went on.

When the clock struck three, quite literally due to it was being hit by a mallet-wielding guard, High Regent Bugs Bunny made his speech. Apparently, the Warners were still learning and Bugs made all of the big proclamations for them. Even after fifty odd years, the High Regent Lord looked strong and powerful, even when cracking jokes and chewing on a carrot.

"Can I get dese kids up here before I wrap tings up?" inquired Bugs and me and PJ found ourselves being ushered onto the stage. "Dese kids are great kids, dat much I can say for dem. Dey've been doing da tings that other people would take for granted and I likes dat. It is my great honor, dat with da approval of de council dat we, the Republic of Warner assist de Queen Minnie in da defense of da world from dese Heartless rubes. Dat's all folks."

The people broke into applause as Wakko and Yakko practically shook my arm off. Dot on the other hand broke off with PJ and he looked startled and stammered before she dragged him to the dance floor.

"Go Peej," I grinned and Yakko made an "AAAEEEEHHHH," sound as his sister danced with my best friend.

"I'm gonna have to give him the Big Brother talk," mused Yakko. "What's that, the tenth one this week?"

"Fourteenth," replied Wakko, downing a manwich bigger than his head.

* * *

"There we go, treaty and declaration of help signed," said Yakko, the signature scroll bearing over twenty different nobility signatures with the top of it reading "Bugs Wuz Here. Daffy Stinks." "Bing that to your Queen, and our Army, or what we have at any rate, will come running!"

"You have our appreciation," I said, bowing low and PJ and Rufus did so too. "Is the Red Line repaired?"

"Aaaaaaah, we're working on that," admitted Yakko, looking sheepish.

"We did get you a boat though," put in Wakko as he munched on another sandwich. "It's a mite bit slower, but it'll take you right to St. Canard."

"Well then, I guess we'd better get going," I said, standing. "C'mon Peej."

"I'm not going Max," replied PJ, startling everyone in range. "I'm staying."

"Huh?" To my surprise, Dot walked over and hooked her arm around PJ's own.

PJ smiled. "Dot and I understand each other much better than we did with any other person. I'm staying here, to learn how the Republic runs."

"Does this mean…" I then suddenly grinned. "Booyah. Nice going Peej!"

Meanwhile, Dot had turned to her brothers and was listing off things. "Don't hit him, don't pull the rug out from under him, don't scare him with gags, and for heavens sake Wakko, get his backpack out of your mouth!"

Wakko spit out PJ's stuff. "Sorry," he said sheepishly.

* * *

"Welcome back," greeted the Queen as we came up to the gates. "Did you have any trouble?"

"A rough patch with Air Pirates, but nothing too bad," I replied.

"Where's PJ?" inquired Mrs. P and I grinned, flicking out a letter. She took it and scanned it over, Pistol leaning over her mom's arm to read. Mrs. P's eyes went a little misty and she sniffed. "Oh my, PJ you're so grown up! And a Regent Queen to boot!"

"Wow, he so totally grew up," proclaimed Pistol as she snapped her gum. "Does that mean he's gonna be king?"

"Maybe. Depends. Dunno. But they're happy together, and hey, good enough for me." I said. "Now I'm tired and I want to sleep."

"Just a moment Max, there's something for you in the table room. Pick it up before you go back to your quarters, all right?" said Daisy, the Queen's best friend.

"All right, will do!"

The Table in the War-Room was still the ever-present reminder of my father, but there sat the package, sitting at a newly minted chair. Sitting down, I found a note attached to the front.

Popping it open, I began to read.

_Dear Max…_

_I wanted to wait until you returned home, but Sora, Donald, Jiminy and I had to keep moving after we corrected the problem with the Cornerstone of Light. I hope you understand._

_Also, I know it was your birthday two days ago, so I wanted to leave you something. Take care of it Max, and remember I'm always proud I'm your father, and that you're my son. And now you are a Knight of the Triangle Table._

_Always Keep The Light In Your Heart._

_Goofy_

Pulling the twine off the package, the wrapping fell away. My eyes went wide as I pulled a shining shield from the depths of the wrapping paper. It was _Save the King_, my father's legendary shield, said to have been wielded in the darkest hours of our country and world.

Fixing it onto my arm, I swung it around, hearing the wind whistle as it cut through the air, singing as it did so.

"Dad…"

With a tremendous heave, I hurled the shield, the weapon spinning around and singing as it did so before returning to my hand. There was really nothing more I could say but hold it up, raised to the light.

Somehow that shadow that loomed over my fathers chair was no longer oppressive, nor was it a reminder of what was expected of me. Instead, it was comforting, resting gently over what I now knew was my chair on the table.

"Wherever we go dad, there's nobody quite like you."


End file.
